Wichita eagle., 1887-05-22
FINGER NAIL SECRETS.
CHAT CONCERNING THE ANCIENT
ART OF oNYCHOMANCY.
Yellow Specks Forets1 Approaching
Trouble, Black Ones Mean Danger and
Red . Warning-Inaications Of Good
FortunseA Curious Belief

Trouble, Black Ones Mean Danger and
Red . NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Of Good
Fortuns.A Curious Belief.
I'm these days of chirognomy and chiro-
NANCY and all the other ologies and ancies
relating to peoples hands and heads and
noses and ears, it is surprising that no one
has as yet revived the old art of onycho-
NANCY" said South Side physician the
other day to reporter.
''What is onychomancyf Well, it is the
art of divination by the nails, and was
much practiced by some of our many tir.cs
great grandfathers l think in the Fig
teenth century. The most learned a1l
distinguished of onychomancists was :
rome Cardan, who was considered rs f-c;
an oracle in his day as Mr.. Heron-AEca
at present, though Cardan never y
such practical use Of his reputation rs
wideawake Englishman has done.
was languid, blase Partisan, alway'
venting some new method for maki..
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., by the way, ~
only merit would seem to be origin
One of his ideas was that govt OF
be considered not as calamity 70 T.
ten rid of, but as Q blessing To b.
", q
edly would not sympathize.
OUTLINES OF THE ART.
81 suppose Monster Cardan found
even such an original amusement :;
tivating the govt palled occasionaf
found relief in onychomancy. He,
q great deal Of time to the art and B.,
quite proficient in it. He himself -,
proud poSsessor Of extraordinary !
nails-nails so magnificent in volume
shape that he counted them as 'cnc q
four eminent gifts bestowed on hirl ~
der that he might be distinguished
the rest of mankind BY means o. a.
nails he is said to have foretold his ft.,
almost exactly, finding il traced out ui,'1
them as plainly as in map. For IL
stance, omens of i'll presented themselves
in the form of livid or black marks Oh the
pail of the forefinger, while marks per
fectly white appearing in the same place
were prognostics of coming good fortune.
Specks on the thumb nail meant APP
preaching honors, and riches were herald
ed ON the nail Of the index finger. The
size, color and precise location of the diff
ferent specks were all matters of the
greatest Importance.
"Cardan was by no means the only ony-
lowers and some predecessors. The out
lines of their doctrine are summarized by
Collin de Plancy in the 'Dictionaire Infer
nal Yellowish specks on the nails fore
tell approaching trouble; black ones mean
danger; red specks, which are very I'm
common, give warning that some one has
evil designs against us; pure white specks
are most to be desired, as they are the
IF uoo1 fnrf,1po When tbasa
signs appear at the bottom Of the nails,
the accomplishment Of their prophecies is
remote, but as the nails grow and the
marks approximate the tip of the fingers a
speedy fulfillment may be expected Of the
unguicular Vaccinations.
A CURIOUS BELIEF.
''Did you know" he continued; "that
the Jews held some extraordinary opinions
about nails? They used to believe that,
before the fall, the bodies of our first pa
rents were perfectly transparent. and that
of these lucid envelopes of the soul our
nails were the sole surviving remains.
Curious belief, wasn't it, You wouldn't
care to be so exquisitely transparent your
self Neither should L.
1.-The long nail craze is growing more
and more fashionable, isn't IL? notice
some of my patients wear regular claws,
and the more fashionable the woman the
longer and more pointed her nails I sup-
pose it is founded on the Chinese idea that
long nails are indications Of gentiiity,
since they are inconsistent with any me
chanical employment or such a vulgar
pursuit as working for ones bread. I've
read that in Nubia the long finger nail is
considered an indisputable proof Of good
birth and high rank; so much so that the
aspiring Nubian, who wishes to get into
society and belong to the upper ten thou
sand, constantly exposes his or her finger
tips to cedar fires, process which insures
the expansion of the nail II seems 10 me
that we are fast descending, or ascending.
as you choose TO call IL, TO the Nubian
standard, since length Of nail really seems
to be taken as criterion Of good breed
ing
Have you my permission TO use the in
formation about anychomancy' Oh. by
all means. Ny daughters heard me talk
ing about it the other day, and since then
they have been hard Mt work studying up
all the books they can find upon the sub
ject. To tell the truth purposely awak-
ened their interest in il, with the idea that
a little talk about red specks and black
chatter upon head lines and heart lines
and what not which ! have been COM
PEELED to listen to for the last six months"
Chicago Herald.